Enhancing the Spatial Resolution for Wire Fault Detection Systems Using Multi-Carrier Signals

• Published in: IEEE sensors journal Vol. 18; no. 23; pp. 9857 - 9866
• Main Authors: Cabanillas, Esteban, Layer, Christophe, Kafal, Moussa, Dupret, Antoine
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.12.2018; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE); Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Subjects: Circuit faults; Computer Science; defect diagnosis; Electric cables; Electric wire; Electromagnetism; Electronic systems; Engineering Sciences; Fault detection; Fault diagnosis; Fault location; Fourier transform; high precision sensing; multi-carrier; Object recognition; OFDM; phase analysis; Power cables; Reflectometry; Sensor systems; Signal and Image Processing; Spatial resolution; State of the art; Testing; Wire; Wiring; field programmable gate arrays; OFDM; complex electronic systems; FPGA; fault detection; Fourier transform; multi-carrier; electric wire; high precision sensing; wire network; defect; multi-carrier reflectometry; wire fault detection systems; analog-digital transitions; electrical cables; complex wiring; phase analysis technique; spatial resolution; transferometry; wiring fault diagnosis; reflectometry; Sensor system; cable; multicarrier signals; Testing; Power cables; fault localization; phase measurement; fault location; phase analysis; diagnosis; Circuit faults; fault position; sensor network; defect diagnosis
• ISSN: 1530-437X; 1558-1748; 1558-1748
• DOI: 10.1109/JSEN.2018.2872409

Recently, the world is witnessing a vast daily development in technology accompanied with more and more complex electronic systems. They are hosting cumulated lengths of electrical cables that are subject one day or another to the occurrence of wiring faults. Accordingly, wire diagnosis became essentially important for ensuring safety, security, integrity, and optimal performance. On the other hand, the emergence of sensor networks and connected objects has created the need for embedded and non invasive fault diagnosis solutions. Notably, multi-carrier reflectometry methods have shown promising and efficient results in locating upcoming defects on wires in an online manner. Nevertheless, their precision stays within the physical limits of their components, especially the sampling frequency of their analog/digital transitions. In this paper, we will propose several approaches combining multi-carrier reflectometry with phase analysis techniques to overcome this limit. Accordingly, an improvement in the precision of the fault localization and a high spatial resolution is obtained. Based on an FPGA implementation, our novel methods and the resulting systems have proven a five-time better accuracy than the state-of-the-art methods on the same platform.